Countries around the world are working out ways to vaccinate their populations against COVID-19. But India, with its massive population of 1.3 billion, faces a bigger challenge than most. The country has set aside $7bn (£5.3bn) and the Union government has created a task force to plan for the distribution of the vaccine throughout the
World
An “incel” who killed 10 pedestrians by driving a van into them in a busy Toronto neighbourhood has pleaded not guilty of murder. Alek Minassian’s lawyer Boris Bytensky said he will argue his client was not criminally responsible because of his state of mind during the killings on 23 April 2018. When asked by a
Veteran Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat has died aged 65 after contracting coronavirus, it has been confirmed. Dr Erekat was Palestine’s chief negotiator and international spokesman for more than three decades. He died in an Israeli hospital on Tuesday, weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, his party Fatah confirmed. Live updates on coronavirus from UK
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he has ordered an end to fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Mr Pashinian said on Facebook that he signed an agreement with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia to halt the fighting that has raged since late September. Several thousand people are feared to have died since
The coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been found to be 90% effective in preventing people from getting the virus, it has been confirmed. Phase 3 of Pfizer’s trial involved 43,538 participants from six countries. They received two doses of either the immunisation or a placebo, with 90% protected from the virus
America’s new soon-to-be president Joe Biden has started his first day of business by going to church. He has arrived at his regular church near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, wearing a mask. It comes shortly after his team announced the work of moving into power has begun, with the launch of their official transition
President Donald Trump has reiterated his claims of fraud and has called into question the election as a whole. Saying that his team is “just beginning the tabulation stage”, he alleged they have seen “a number of affidavits that there has been voter fraud”. Mr Trump has repeatedly made the claims over recent days but
Joe Biden has vowed to unify Americans and heal deep divides across the country in his first speech since being named US president-elect. He pledged to “work with all my heart to win the confidence of all of you”, admitting to those who did not vote for him that “I understand the disappointment”. “But now
Up to 150 people are feared to have been killed in a landslide in Guatemala after Storm Eta lashed central America with torrential downpours. Many of those who lost their lives in the remote mountain village of Queja in the country’s central region of Alta Verapaz were buried in their homes under mud, according to
Has the coronavirus shape-shifted just as we’re about to roll out the first vaccine? It’s such a nightmarish scenario that Danish authorities are taking no chances. They’ve been dealing with a mutated strain of the virus that has been spreading through mink fur farms for a while. But the stakes were raised when it was
Teenagers who have a poor diet could be up to 20cm shorter than other young people of the same age, a global study has found. According to research led by Imperial College London, inadequate nutrition may have contributed to 19-year-olds in south and southeast Asia, Latin America and East Africa being the shortest, while those
Donald Trump supporters – some armed with rifles and handguns – have descended on election counting centres where mail-in ballots continue to be tallied up. In the state of Arizona, a mostly unmasked crowd chanted “stop the steal” following unsubstantiated claims that votes for the Republican president were deliberately not being counted. US election 2020
Joe Biden is closing in on Donald Trump in the key battleground of Georgia, hoping to flip a third state from the Republicans and put himself within touching distancing of the White House. The Democrat challenger is now 31,000 votes behind – a much smaller gap than the 372,000 he trailed behind by 24 hours
The theory that prehistoric hunting was only for men looks like being a modern male sexist construct after a discovery at an ancient burial site in Peru.. The remains of a teenage girl who lived around 9,000 years ago were found, alongside a “well-stocked big-game hunting toolkit”. Previously it was thought that women were foragers
Diego Maradona has had successful surgery for a bleed on the brain, his public relations team has said. The operation took place at a private hospital less than a week after his 60th birthday. His personal doctor Leopoldo Luque said the Argentine was diagnosed with a subdural haematoma – an accumulation of blood between a
Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona will undergo surgery for a subdural haematoma within hours, his personal physician has told reporters, A subdural haematoma is a serious condition where a blood clot develops between the skull and the surface of the brain. It is usually caused by a head injury. Dr Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician,